1. Field of the combination invention
A 2-position, especially an electric line cord mounting type, switching means having a half-wave diode rectifier which is shuntingly electrically connected to two electrical contacts of the switching means to thereby cancel the electrical "off" position of a conventional 2-position "off" and "on" switching means so that when repeatedly actuating the switching means only an electrical half-wave "dim" and a full-wave "on" position is repeatedly possible, regardless of how a person manually actuates a switch actuation exposed portion thereof for at least obtaining eight separate combinations of one OFF and three separate illuminations from a 3-way lamp, saving money; extending the life of incandescent lamps especially when used with an electric lamp timer so that a house will not be as easily burglarized and the like.
2. Description of Some of the Prior Art
Prior art electrical "on" and "off" 2-position electrical conductor line cord switching means are well known by person skilled in the art and are a commonly used household item which is basically electrically connected in a twin or parallel electric conductor wire that runs from a double-pronged male plug to an electric lamp fixture and the like. The line cord switches are of the light duty type as, for example, a LEVITON "KWIK WIRE" miniature feed-thru cord switch of the line piercing type, that is sold under a stock number of 5669 by Sears, Roebuck and Co. Other prior art cord or line piercing type are J. M. LAPEYERE U.S. Pat. No. 2,802,083 which issued on Aug. 6, 1957 and Gilbert U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,327 which issued Nov. 8, 1955 and even a rotary, push-button electric cord 4-position switching device was invented by F. D. Bryant et al on Mar. 26, 1940 being U.S. Pat. No. 2,195,237. A very old prior art which does not relate to a 2-position "off" and "on" switching line cord means, but will generally show how old the line cord, rheostat heat creating and electric energy wasting, dimming art is, is that of F. Emberger U.S. Pat. No. 1,273,754 which issued on July 23, 1918. Even a, 2-position "on" and "off", rocker type of line cord piercing switch was patented by Luis Ludwig on Sept. 5, 1972 being U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,723, but was totally silent, as are all the disclosed prior art, as to having any half-wave diode rectifying means, especially a silicon type, for creating eight separate combinations of one OFF and three separate illuminations from a 3-way bulb, for saving electric energy, preventing some burglarizing by additional use of an electric utility timer and the like disclosed in the following objects of this invention.
A prior art R. C. Morton, U.S. Pat. No. 2,896,125 issued July 21, 1959 that uses a 2-position switch 56 having a diode 52 for dimming a single filament lamp 54 in a ceiling of a room, and points away from use of an expensive multi-filament lamps which are associated with complicated and relatively expensive sockets and switching circuits, as for example a 3-way lamp and its switching means.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,723 discloses therein and thereby it need not be repeated in this specification as to the popularity and the after market "(in the home)" installation of line cord switches as well as prior art disadvantages and the like in column 1 and 2, and accordingly also relates to the disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,327 therein.
A 9-position, 40 degrees apart, electric cord mounting switching means having 3 electrical "OFF" positions, 3 half wave diode "dim" and 3 full-wave positions has been used in a Sears catalog 1969 publication and called a "HI-LO" switching means that appears to be a trademark term only. The Sears, page 820, 9-position swtich is manufactured by Calcomp Consumer Products, Inc. Anaheim, Calif. 92806. The 9-position Sears switch creates a machine-gun switching disadvantage which is overcome by the disclosed and claimed two-position switch shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing of this application and especially by FIGS. 8 and 9 of Micro or Cherry switch embodiments.